


absquatulate | Kirishima Ayato

by chesiredoll



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Aogiri no Ki | Aogiri Tree (Tokyo Ghoul), Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-05-09 18:56:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14721737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chesiredoll/pseuds/chesiredoll





	1. opening act

**opening act- a tale of an unknown**

* * *

**A young book-enthusiast found herself fascinated as she re-read through the thoughts of the protagonist of the story.** Every time the young girl finishes the book, she couldn't blame herself for being in love all over again. All she could say is that, it was her favorite book of all she had in her collection. She cares for her collection deeply as her quarters almost looked like a library, it was just a fact that she loves the smell of old and new literary aside from the smell of a wet iron. The young girl's ears heard the door of her quarters creaked opened, without looking up, her nose recognize the distinct scent of a ghoul along with an unfamiliar one. When it intrigued her interest, she slowly lowered the book and placed it on her lap with a bookmark between the pages she had read. 

The young girl's predatory eyes met a sweet and curious orbs of midnight blue. It was a child like her or rather to his appearance, he was slightly younger than her. There was a sick sweet smile etched on her pale lips as she rested her chin on the armrest. "Your eyes are beautiful," the words left her mouth carelessly and added, "it gives me an urge to gouge it out of your sockets," and she lets out a snicker. She was no longer surprise to the child glared at her "flattery," from what she meant as a compliment. The young girl's eyes glanced at the petite ghoul, even with the bandages covering her face, it was clear that she was amused by their interaction. 

"Is he the ghoul you've been pertaining? The one whose been rampaging on wards, mama?" The young ghoul guessed as she addressed the older ghoul. She can see the confusion flickered in the younger ghoul's eyes as he glanced at her and the older ghoul. The older ghoul nodded its head merrily, their shallow eyes eyed at the form of the young girl and ushered the younger one to waltz in the odd-looking ghoul in front of him. The young girl had a chance to examine his features, it was simply beautiful despite of the murderous look he had as he stared at her (she knew he was examining her features as well) intently. 

The young girl has already made a conclusion that he doesn't want to do anything with her being and she knew that it was because of her odd features. She wants to belittle herself appearance because of the stare he was giving. It feels like blasphemy but she never cared about what they said to her before. It was the first time and it made the questions run into her mind,  _Why can't she go back to the way she looked like before?_ It may never show her face but it was only one of the thoughts that made sense in her currently unstable mind. 

The older ghoul confirmed her guessing accompanied with series of giggles and added, “Tatara wants you to take care of this little one. Since the child still lacks primary education, he hoped you could teach him somehow.” The older ghoul watch girl’s expression turned sour and started to protest,  _why should she be the one to teach him what he needs?_ She also added why does “mama” always use her papa’s “name” to make her work. The older ghoul knew that it wasn't just a protest to make her work but rather, the obvious distaste the younger ghoul was giving her, the young girl doesn't want to take under wing if he doesn't want to. She doesn't need a ghoul that will not take orders because of judging her initial appearance. Even so, the young girl looked away when she saw them wore a shallow grin, leaving her no choice but to agree. She changed her position to slouch as a sign of her still against the idea to have him.

The younger male wanted to stay away from her, it wasn't because of her odd features or anything physical. It was because of her natural predatory sense around her. It was suffocating, even though he was a ghoul himself, he couldn't help but wanting to leave this room and never come back. However, he can't help but admire her features quietly, it was the first he saw such features. She had rather pale skin and an odd hair color, it makes him wonder what is the real color of her eyes if the black scalera and red iris weren't there. 

“Little Ayato,” The older petite ghoul he knew as Eto called as he turned his head to see nothing but shallow eye sockets and mouth. “Good luck,” she said and it made him confuse as it was the young girl’s turn to let out a series of laughter. He clearly heard the sarcasm lacing on Eto’s voice while the other one was clearly amused. He found the girl staring at his form which made him cast a murderous look to her way. 

"I will never get bored of you," she flaunts and showed another sickening grin on her face. "You create such fascinating faces I usually see with humans." It was one thing that Kirishima Ayato really despised, he was compared as a weakling—to a human at that. He doesn't want to hear his name in the same sentence with food as if comparing him to them. He strives to be the strongest and this  _ghoul_ across just teased him about it. Ayato acted impulsively, taken by his anger, he felt his eyes enveloped and changed into the same predatory eyes as hers and his fiery wings spread on his back. He sharpens his kagune and released an amount of crystal shards at her direction. However, he seemed to miss the target, the shards were buried deep on the one sitter couch and some of them reached the books behind her seat. 

"How rude, Ayato." The said child looked up to see her inverted in the ceiling, a bluish black tendril was pierced on her "ground" to prevent her from falling, her short white hair was suspended, along with her shirt is slipping to her chest. "Those books are rare to find here in Japan." 

Ayato didn't apologized but instead he retracted his wings and take a deep breath to calm his self. The girl had a disappointed look on her face as she returned her and fell on her sofa, head first as if she's been lying down in an awkward position the whole time. "Since you destroyed some of my collection, it would be best if I don't tell you my name. Perhaps you address me from what the CCG called myself." 

"The dammed cat," Ayato spat as he recalled the name he always heard within the humans he encounters. The girl shrugged her shoulders and removed the shard on her couch and throwed it to him. She wheeled and stood up from her couch and roamed around her quarter as Ayato observed her movements. He can hear her tutted as she examined the spine of the damaged books. He saw her grabbed another book, a pen and a paper and stride her way back to the coffee table near him. 

"I would gladly settle things with you tomorrow during your training. Perhaps you can prove to me that you deserve to be my subordinate, Ayato." She mentioned as she plopped down and placed the things she gathered before looking up him. He can hear mocking about his strength, yes, he still has a lot to learn. He knew he is still weak and he needs more experience to be stronger, and training with one of the most wanted ghouls in the CCG's eyes will benefit him. Even though he is still uncomfortable being alone with a room with this ghoul. 

It was quite a shame that he never knew what her real name was. He never caught anyone tell the said name of the damn cat, he just knew her alias and it is quite a shame for that. Ayato sat down beside her as he watches her scan the pages of the book she places on the coffee table. It was hard since he can't read most of them because it was Kanji, he prefers training than learning such complicated words. He heard the damn cat chuckled at his sour expression. "Stop making such face, Ayato. I promise you, you will learn a lot from me as your teacher. Better call me a  _sensei_  by then." the damn cat teased and cast a side glance to see him scowling at her directly. 

"You wish," 

• • •

When the damned cat has gotten into business, Ayato can't deny the fact that she is a great tutor, she started by asking random questions, his vocabulary's extent and his reading skills. Ayato was a little behind with his studies as a child as he cannot master hiragana and that is a problem especially in his, most child has taking their time to understand Kanji. She really can't blame him as being a ghoul limits their right as a 'being'. She was quite grateful to have Eto teach her the primary things, like reading, writing, and hunting. She started off as an easy part, she was quite pleased that Ayato is eager to learn and she guess that he is excited for their training match tomorrow. Both of them didn't know how much time they had while studying as the younger boy suddenly stifled a yawn much to his dislike. "I guess that's enough for today Ayato. Don't worry I won't push you to train and then study at the same day. That would be exhausting." She smiled sheepishly as she remembers Eto made her do both every day, this is just her being sympathetic. 

Ayato nodded his head drowsily as he heads for the nearest bed he can see (her bed) and plopped down to it. She watched him with amusement and realized that he didn't have any sleeping quarters. She will talk to Eto first thing tomorrow and found herself yawning too. She made her way to her bed and sink on the bed next to Ayato, covering their small frames with her comforter and drifted to abyss. 

Ayato found his small frame encase beside the odd-looking ghoul, he wanted to scream in surprise but stop his self from doing so. He and the damned cat were facing each other as her hands were snaked on his waist as she sleeps soundly beside him. She looks damn peaceful and innocent, like a normal girl with those red irises anywhere. Ayato finds his self-fascinated with her appearance up close, knowing that she won’t be able to know about it. Ayato tried to squirm his way out of her arms and he was lucky that she didn’t move or bothered by it. Instead she turned away from his direction and embrace the pillow to that side. Ayato rolled his eyes and quietly stood up and went to the books he had damaged last night. There were visible dents from the hard cover of the cover but he was quite lucky to see that the pages were not damage at all. He suddenly felt odd when he saw the disappointed look on her face last night. If he were to become one of her subordinates, he cannot continue seeing that look from her. 

• • •

Later that morning, he heard the busy ghouls sauntering outside the quarters, talking about how they are excited to watch Cheshire fight the newcomer. Even with his young mind he knew that they were talking about him. He was the only newcomer that joined the organization from what he knows. Even when Ayato wake up from his sleep, the damned cat wasn’t there. The whole building was latter quiet when noon arrived, but he can hear faint cheers—roaring with excitement. He wondered if it was the said “training” Eto told him beforehand—a welcome fight against Cheshire. 

Cheshire is the damned cat. One said when ghouls encountered her—she grins like the cat who smiles—floats in the air and sometimes vanishes in any second. He walked towards the next building where he can hear the noise grew louder than he expected. It made his ears ring and he tried to ignore it. The door creaked open as he pushed the rusty doors, it made the crowd wilder. The ghouls who are watching the said “training”, stomp their feet across the pavement. Ayato stood in the center, meters away from the white-haired girl who had her hand shoved in her pockets. She was staring at the ground, envelope by her own thoughts. Ayato examined the whole area, it was a rundown building yet the whole area is quite clean and it looked like it is being taken care of. 

The bandaged ghoul waved her hand to silence everyone and the crowd naturally complied. “Gentle and Cruel Ghouls!” Eto staged while standing at the stage beside Tatara. Her voice reached the whole room as she continued to speak, introducing their very own asset, Cheshire then proceeded to introduce him, “most you know him as the young destructor of the wards—give him some cheer, Ayato Kirishima!” 

Ayato glared fiercely at the ghoul across him when she looked up, she had a vacant expression resting on her face. He couldn’t read what’s on her mind as he knew she was really unpredictable. The crowd started to cheer louder as Eto paused turning to the quiet white head ghoul beside her. They both knew that there is still a large gap between the children’s skills. It was a matter of brawl between someone who had been sharpening her skills all these years or to the child who has a lot of potential in him; both still have their limitations but these two adults knew they can overcome it sooner. The very thought made the bandaged ghoul excited, questioning herself who will emerge victorious? 

“Who do you think will win Tatara?” Eto asked when she raised her hand up signaling them to get ready, when she swung it down, Ayato was the first one to initiate and attack, developing his kagune on his shoulder blade and fired the shards to her direction. The opposing side pivoted her foot and sprinted sideward to dodge them as Ayato trailed her using his kagune shard. 

“Who knows,” he replied as Eto also hummed in agreement. The white-haired ghoul released her black tail-like kagune and slammed it on the ground, lifting her whole body in mid-air. Ayato glared and used his wings to block the attack of her rinkaku but one slipped pass him and pierce him on the stomach. 

“Ack!” Ayato yelped in surprise as it brought a smile on her lips. She landed on her feet near him and kicked him right in the gut, he flew and landed on the wall. Ayato can see the spots in his vision as he spit out the blood from his mouth on the ground. He needed to think of something fast, if he doesn’t, it’ll be too late for him. 

The damned cat remained standing from where he originally was, the smile seemed to grow bigger and bigger any second by now, “Little Ayato get up. We are just getting started!” She exclaimed and put her three scales in an offensive stance. 

Ayato gritted his teeth and immediately got up in his feet. He flinched as the pain of his wounds reached him, he can feel the wound slowly healing up but it made his movements less agile than before. His wing-like kagune spread behind his back and flapped them, immediately bringing him above ground but it seemed like she anticipated it and sprinted, she used her kagune to catch him by his feet and slammed him down on the ground. Ayato fell face first and it made him groan, registering the pain all over his body. 

She lets out a raw chuckle, “I won’t let you fly up in the air, Ayato. I need to clip that wings of yours.” Her kagune tightened around his ankle as she produced another rinkaku and pierce it on his left wing. Ayato cries in pain, clenching his fists, he tried looking up to her. Her face was shadowed but there was that growing eerie smile etching on her lips. Ayato can’t help but to feel fear at that moment—something was wrong with her. 

Cheshire’s mind was already blank. The only thing she wanted to see is blood, she wanted to hear his screams. The serene scream of a young ghoul, all she wanted is to finally inflict pain to him.  _They_  didn’t like him, he was arrogant and hot-headed—they wanted to teach him a lesson in order to make him know his place. He will be always underneath her. “ _Let me hear more of your scream, Little Ayato._ ” she pleaded, tilting her head to the side. 

When she tried to pierce her free kagune to his wing, a firm hand holds her shoulder as someone cut her kagunes, freeing Ayato from her grasp. She suddenly feels agitated and turned to the two older ghouls behind her. Eto used her koukaku to slice hers as Tatara towers her small figure. Cheshire stomped her feet angrily, “ _Why do you need to ruin my fun? It’s not fair! I need to teach him a lesson!_ ” 

Ayato felt his kagune disappeared as the petite bandage ghoul crouch down to him, “I apologize for that Ayato. It seems that our Cheshire isn’t capable of fighting you without losing herself.” She explained briefly, glancing at the child who was trying to wriggle her way out of Tatara’s arm. She offered Ayato a hand and he hesitantly accepted it. He sat on the ground as they both watch Tatara pulled out a syringe from his pocket and inject it on the girl’s neck. He watched her body limped and pass put on her “papa’s” arm, the tall man seems to nod on Eto’s direction. 

What the hell just happened?

• • •

Ayato didn't know what just happened to her and when he asks the other ghouls, they just shake their heads and walk away from him, tending their jobs or simply because to ignore him. When he tried asking Eto about it, she just replies, "Leave her be, for now. She'll be back soon." Every time passes by the metal door where they isolated her from everyone. All he could hear were screams, crashing and banging of the metal door. He can hear loud and clear the pleas she's been sending and some weird things like she's been arguing with someone but he knew no one was there, other than her. Ayato was latter informed that Eto will be the one to train him in combat, the bandage ghoul wanted him to put up a fight with the isolated ghoul after she was back. Ayato went through hell when Eto was the one who trained her, she was quite the sadist trying to degrade him on the process of his training. He was glad that Cheshire is still the one who’s going to tutor her in reading, he doesn’t know how hard Eto could be in tutoring him and he had enough of her hell training every day. He was happy to see that his stomach was fully healed and he can adjust from Eto's technique in training.

Two weeks passed by and he learned that Cheshire wasn't Eto and Tatara's biological child but rather they were the acting of the young ghoul. He only learned a few details where her parents were killed by the ghoul investigators and her parents are one of the founding members of Aogiri tree. There were no further details after that, then the day when she returned everything seemed so normal, but the visible dark circles under eyes tells him otherwise. No one mentioned anything about it, as if it was already a normal thing to see on her. It made him uncomfortable as if it was like any other day, there they were in her quarters, she was busy explaining the kanji words he said he can’t understand but none of them entering his mind right now. He also finds it peculiar that every time she caught him staring her, Cheshire just smiles at him and continues. 

"You are not listening again," she scolded and flicked him in the forehead. He hissed at the stinging sensation that made him snapped out of his thoughts. He averted his eyes from her when he can feel her observing him. Has he been caught? "You seem bothered. What is it?" 

Yeah, he was. Ayato hesitated and end up saying nothing but incoherent words, she chuckled at his flustered state and patted his head. She felt like she did own him some explanation and an apology for taking things too far. If only she was a normal ghoul, it could have been better for the two of them. After the awkward silence between them, Cheshire decides to speak first, "There are some things I do not want to mention to you because I know you will be uncomfortable with the very thought of it but I want to apologize to you for taking it too far." She said, lowering her head to her propped-up knees. Ayato seemed surprise at her but he remained quiet, 

"You can be a great executive of our organization, Ayato. You have shown a lot of potential for a young ghoul like you." She praised and faced him, she had a small smile resting on her lips. He can tell that it was a genuine one and it was beautiful. He felt a sense of pride hearing it from one of the most wanted ghouls in the CCG's list. "Perhaps it is the best time to properly introduce myself to you, Ayato." 

She straightened up and turned to him, she extends her hand and let her smile widened, "They call me as Miki. It's nice to meet you, partner." She introduced as they shook hands. She knew beforehand that Ayato is going to be her partner and not just any other subordinate. He is the one who will take over her place once she suddenly dies or caught by the CCG. Ayato suddenly laughed at her that made Miki confused, "Why are you laughing, Ayato?"

"You have a lame name for a ghoul, Miki." He teased and it made her chuckled. She leaned on her couch, resting her head on the cushion and grinned, 

"I usually take it as a compliment. It wasn't the name you expected it to be right?" She guessed and he nodded his head. The night was soon filled by the soft laughter of the children, exchanging of remarks about their names. When Eto passed by the room she smiled at the accomplishment of her plan. After the few months of going through that, the child finally laughed with a genuine one. She knew that Tatara picked the right choice to have Ayato join in their organization, maybe this could be the time to have her returned to her original state. She knew that it won't be that easy since, Miki still needs a lot of things she to surpass and this isn't the end. The night was still young and it was just the beginning of a tale. 

A story that is worth reading. 

A tale of an unknown. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Act one: ANTEIKU**

* * *

 

**The smell of old and new books entered her nostrils that made her extremely contented and happy.**  She runs her index finger across the spine of the books located on her desired shelf. The girl with a long black hair continued to waltz side wards, quietly counting her steps and looking for a book to past her time before her shift on the café she works. She paused when a book has caught her attention as a small smile reached her lips. She grabbed the book and examine the front page and the table of contents, her smile seems to lace bigger to a content as she hums in approval, scanning the first few pages of the book as she strides her way back to the table. All of a sudden, she collided with a person, her concentration from the book was broken as she immediately apologized to him out of instinct. This scene was no longer new to her as she always bumps to someone on her way back to her designated table.

“Next time, watch where you are going.” She heard the person say. It made her pause and looked over her shoulder. However, the person was already gone before she could see his face. She pushed up her glasses from the bridge of her nose and shakes her head. When she has found her way back to her table, she continued to be engrossed with the book she was reading. The book was entitled,  _the moon over the mountain_ , this book is a collection of nine short stories written by Nakajima Atsushi. When the black-haired girl reaches half of the book in a short time, someone tapped on her shoulder to get her attention. She placed her bookmark between the pages and looked up to see one of the most innocent pair of gray orbs she can find.

“May I help you with something?” she inquires at the ebony-haired male. She studied his features for a short moment, wondering if she had seen him around the campus. The male rubbed his neck sheepishly with a small grin and said,

“Is it okay if I take a seat here? The library is quite pack today.” He asks for permission and blushed lightly. She smiles at him and nodded her head in approval, letting him sat across her. The male placed his bag on the table, sitting quietly on the seat and fish out the book he currently reads. The male doesn’t seem to notice her watchful gaze as he quietly read from his seat. She glances at the book he’s reading. The book had a black border and a beige surface, “The black goat’s egg,” she uttered the book’s title that made his attention turn to her. “That’s a rather nice book. I’ve read one a few days ago.” She shared, she can see the shine spark in his eyes as he found someone who likes the same author as he did. He was quite a chatterbox about his opinions and admiration for Takatsuki Sen.

“Nakajima Atsushi—considered as a master of sub-genre of Japanese fictional works that takes Ancient China as his subject. His stories are based on folk tales, legends and historical figures…” He suddenly mentioned when he come across the book she was reading. He blushed lightly as he saw her smiled, looking impress about the knowledge he had with the author of the book.

“So, you’re a major in literature, that’s great.” She deducted and nodded her head in amusement. The two of them continued to share opinions about the books they have read so far and both clearly love Takatsuki Sen’s works. When she glances on the father clock, it was already past 3 pm along with the sound of her phone, notifying her a message from a colleague. She was already late for work.

“I’m sorry but I need to go. I am running late for work,” she reasoned out as she started fixing her things on her backpack. The man seemed dejected when she needed to leave. He never had much of this talk in literature before aside his best friend but nevertheless he nodded his head. She smiled at him, “I hope to see you some time again, Mr.?”

She paused upon realizing that she never knew his name, “Kaneki. Kaneki Ken.” He mentioned and offered his hand to her. She accepted his hand and shakes it briefly. She clearly had heard his name before and realized she was right, “The name’s Himura Miyuki. See you around the campus, Kaneki.”

Kaneki was left dumbfounded after she bolted to a run out of the library. Kaneki had a small smile on his face when he had another friend made in his college aside Hide. He continued reading to his book when something caught his attention. It was a bookmark between the pages of the book Himura left. Kaneki admired the features of the bookmark. It was a small black-painted slab where it has white engraved name ‘チェシャー’ (1) and another name on its back, ‘黒いウサギ’ (2).  He wondered if he made it herself or someone gave it to her, he kept the bookmark inside his bag, in hopes that he would meet her again soon.

A few streets away from the university, Miyuki spotted a familiar building and turned left as she entered the premises. The bell chimed as she opened the door, “I’m sorry I’m late!” She breathes, exhausted from the sudden cardio she did to catch on her shift. Miyuki glanced at the black-haired girl, who was currently brewing the coffee beans for the customers. Her colleague clicked her tongue in annoyance when she met Touka’s eyes who were glaring at her poor existence, “What are you waiting for Miyuki? A kick in the butt? Go change already!”

Miyuki chuckled and head inside the counter. When Miyuki went back dressed in her Anteiku uniform, she had a small smile on her lips, something she always do when facing the customers. “You are in charge of handling the orders today, Miyuki.” Miyuki nodded as she grabbed the tray full of orders and handed it to their customers, ghouls and humans alike. When she finished the first batch of orders, she walked inside the counter and started placing the tray of cookie doughs inside their oven before sitting down a stool beside Touka.

“Why are you late anyways? Don’t tell me you’ve encounter an investigator?” Touka mentioned quietly with the hint of distaste to those humans. Touka was wiping the small plates after it was washed, placing them on the dish rack.

“I was stuck in the university’s library until the last minute. The 20th ward isn’t flooded by doves by now and I could handle myself with 3-5 doves if ever but I’d rather not.” Touka rolled her eyes at her arrogance but never mentioned anything after that. Miyuki smiled at herself remembering the old times when she first arrived at Anteiku. Touka fought against her for staying there, telling that she could compromise the very existence of the quiet ward but that story is saved for another time.

• • •

A new day and start of the new beginning, Miyuki started her day working downstairs in Anteiku. She had her classes start after lunch, so, she had the whole morning to do her shift. The bell chimed signaling her and the others that there are new customers arrive. The black-haired ghoul welcomed them with a small warm smile. She heard a dramatic gasp from their new customers and she found Hideyoshi Nagachika in front of her accompanied by his friend, to her surprise it was Kaneki Ken. What a small world it is. “ _senpai_?”

“It’s nice to see you, Hide, Kaneki. Welcome to Anteiku.” She greeted and ushered them to sit down. Hideyoshi was a kouhai of hers and Nishiki. She met him back in the opening ceremony of their university. She and Touka glanced at each other as Miyuki grabbed her notepad on the counter. She returned at their service, asking for their orders. “I’ll return with your orders shortly.”

She informed Yoshimura the newly arrived customers’ orders and she couldn’t help to inhale the sweet smell of the raven-head. She shakes her head, disregarding her predatory thoughts. Kaneki observed his best friend as Hide lets out a small hum, watching Miyuki from his seat as the black-haired girl was sauntering around the café handing out the orders. Kaneki felt his lips curled up, Hide looks smitten to Himura. When he heard that Hide called her senpai, it was clear that she maybe a year old than them but it looked like she is the same age as them. “Hide, Himura might melt if you keep on staring at her.” Kaneki teased and chuckled lightly. Hide turned his attention to him and rolled his eyes, denying that he was staring at her.

“I’m sorry for the wait. Here are your orders.” Miyuki suddenly appeared beside them, carefully placing the cup of coffee on their table accompanied with two slices of strawberry cake. Kaneki looked confuse, they didn’t order for the cakes. Miyuki grinned to them and closed her one eye, “These two are on the house.” She mentioned and went back to the counter, helping her manager do the work inside the counter.

Hide grinned and took a bite on the cake and hummed, “The cake is delicious! Kaneki you should take a bite too.” He gushed, Kaneki had no choice but to comply. His eyes widened, the icing melt right through his tongue and the flavor was indeed delicious. The local news seems to relay the recent incident going on with the 20th ward. The newscaster seems to give advice staying away from the beings called ‘ghouls.’

Miyuki stuck out her tongue to Touka as Yoshimura told the shorter girl that it was her job to be the waitress as well. Touka rolled her eyes at Miyuki and grabbed the next batch of orders and walked around the room. “Miyuki. Your friend is calling you.” Yoshimura called for the spaced-out raven head. She was wiping the same mug for a few minutes before looking up to him. She nodded her head and wiped her hands before making her way towards Hide.

“How is it? Is the cake alright?” She inquired when she reached her kouhai. Hide nodded his head vigorously while Kaneki nodded his head with a small smile. “I’m glad. I hope to see the two of you here again.” She mentioned happily. Kaneki rummage on his bag calling her attention before she heads back.

“I almost forgot to hand you this,” he said, handing the black bookmark to her. “You left this at the library.” Her eyes seemed to shine as she eyes on the bookmark. Hide observes her quietly, curious on how she handled the bookmark with such care. The bookmark looks old about 6 to 7 years.

“That’s a nice bookmark senpai.” Hide commented, she hums with a small smile resting on her lips.

“It was a gift from a friend.” She mentioned before saying her gratitude to Kaneki and head back inside the counter. She heads towards the door located inside the counter. When she did, the bell chimed as Touka was the one who welcomed the newly arrived customer. The short black-haired girl did her best not falter the smile she had when she saw who it was. She turned away and knew that Miyuki wouldn’t like who it was.

The black-haired girl now dressed in her white collared shirt, black sweatshirt and white tennis skirt with her black running shoes, locking her room and placed the key inside her backpack. When she reached the door that connects to the café, her nose suddenly crinkled from the foul smell of a certain ghoul. She restrained herself from letting out a deep groan when she realized that Kamishiro has using their café yet again to catch some meat. Kamishiro Rize or known as the binge eater because of her recklessness, the doves are starting to notice the ward. However, it is not good to attack the ghoul investigators this early. It will be a pain, like their manager said, it would be best not to meddle with the doves. They do not want further attention in here.

She opens the door and walked out of the counter. She bid her goodbye to her colleagues and to the manager. Her eyes momentarily met with Rize, who smiled at her and slightly averted her eyes towards Kaneki Ken. She almost narrowed her eyes at the violet-haired ghoul but stopped herself. She suddenly felt a pang of guilt towards the innocent bean. It was no longer her job to stop Rize and her binge tendencies.

• • •

If Miyuki have to count days, it had been at least a few weeks after Rize and Kaneki disappeared. According to Touka, she saw the two of them heading towards a darker road when she was on her way back to Anteiku. Then, the next day after that, a news was aired about an accident in a construction site. Unfortunately, one of the students have died after being buried from the metal beams. The other luckily survived after he had undergone a surgery using the dead student’s organs. She was curious that the body didn’t reject the dead student’s organs from what she had learn from their professor it happens often to those who did jot have the same blood type.

Then, she learned from Hideyoshi that Kaneki was the one who was hospitalized, there she realized that Kaneki could live his next life as a half-ghoul. She remained quiet about her discovery, she didn’t want to tell Hideyoshi as Kaneki could tell it his self. She knew that Kaneki would be confuse, disgusted by his new life. It wasn’t easy to live as her kind, especially if she were to be in Kaneki’s shoes. He could no longer eat the human food he loves, it would only taste like horse shit, a dry sponge and spoilt.

“Hey stop spacing out, will you?” She lets out a whine as someone knock her on the head. She looked up to see an irritated Nishiki Nishio. The two have partner up to finish a material report due next week. She puffs out her cheek, rubbing the sore part of her head.

“I am not a door, four eyes.” She grumbled as copied the lecture of their professor that was left in the white board. She saw Nishiki rolled his eyes as he fixed his bag on the desk.

“Well, you are not listening to me. You are clearly moving to your dreamland again.” He remarks as he watches her keep her things inside her backpack. Miyuki didn’t reply as she change the topic to his human girlfriend, Kimi and head out of their classroom towards the AO room. That one room they always stay with after their class.

Nishiki Nishio is in a steady relationship with a human and she’s been trying to recruit him almost a year. If he is willing to have a steady relationship with a human, it would be best if he stops the hunting and work with them. Anteiku is a place for ghouls who wants to coexist with the humans in a peaceful way. One, the ghouls always come back for their coffee besides, Kimi is a nice woman. “But she will soon learn that you are a ghoul. That is just the only thing you can’t hide from her.”

Nishiki always disregards her offer, not that he doesn’t care about Kimi but he has a huge pride just to join such organization. Maybe next time as he could say. “I can’t blame you for doubting but we will always lend a hand to a fellow ghoul, Nishiki.” She mimics the phrase she always hears from Yoshimura. Nishiki shrugs his shoulder and opened his pc, Miyuki went straight to the couch and grabbed her sketchbook, pencils and an eraser. It was time to give attention to her unfinished sketches.

• • •

Miyuki cannot believe what she sees right in front of her eyes. She was no longer sure if it was the same Kaneki Ken she met a few weeks ago. Before he looks timid and an innocent bean but now, he looks frustrated, confused on how it all resulted upon having a date with a beautiful girl. He looks like shit in all honesty, it looks like he hasn’t adjusted to their life style. His intoxicated scent was mixed with a foul stench something she can always smell when Rize is around. There was no longer a doubt, Rize’s kakuhou was transferred to him. She glanced at the manager who looks at the former human, now a half ghoul, with pity while Touka is glaring at him. Miyuki ushered him inside as when they have reached a large fridge, she handed him a package. “This could help you with your hunger.”

He looks cautious with what’s inside the package, “Kaneki, take it. You can always come back when you need one again.” She smiles at him, trying to remove his anxiousness with them. He slowly accepted the package and thanked them before going. Touka seem to disagree with their decision, but told her the reason why she and the manager seem to think otherwise. When Touka learned about the accident she looked surprise to hear that Rize is already dead, Miyuki did too when she heard about the incident.

She wanted to laugh at Rize’s unfortunate demise under the metal beams, yet she felt guilty for letting someone like Kaneki suffer in his given second life. She dived into her own bed, exhaustion enveloping her whole system as her eyes slowly closed and delved inside the dreamscape. She hoped that there will be no nightmares this time.

• • •

Miyuki hummed to herself as the music blasted on her headphones from her mp3. The black-haired girl is sitting on the couch with her sketchpad on her lap. She continued to sketch while Nishiki did some other things much to her dismay. They were supposed to finish the material by today so they could brainstorm ideas and the flow of their report by next week. However, it seems like the strawberry blonde had some other things in his mind. Like his needs, even if her headphones were in full volume, with her natural heightened hearing ability, she can still hear faint distinctive noises from behind.

Miyuki wanted to roll her eyes on them but she does not want that action to take her whole free time so instead she did what she want to do in her free time—sketch. She draws what she always comes on her mind. Miyuki pauses and grabs the canned coffee on the table and sip from the mouth. She placed the can on the table before putting the last touches on her sketch and signed it at the bottom right with her name. There she suddenly heard a blood curling scream, she immediately yanks her headphones off her ears and hang them around her neck and turned around.

Miyuki found Kaneki and Hide by the doorstep with the banshee screaming in embarrassment as she fled the room. She would have thought that Nishiki would have attack the girl but she guessed it wrong. “Miyuki-senpai? You are here too?” Hide asked before realizing that she has been here the whole which means,

“I did not see anything~” Miyuki called, waving her mp3 for them to see and the beat from her headphones can still be heard. Hide visibly sighed in relief as the black-haired girl giggled at his actions. Miyuki rested her chin on the head of the couch watching them interact with each other. Miyuki heard to Touka about her encounter with Nishiki and Kaneki on Rize’s turf. Nishiki handled it well, as she almost wanted to laugh on how anxious Kaneki appeared when Nishiki sauntered his way near in front of the black-haired half ghoul. “You are invading some personal space over there, you perverted four eyes.” She mentioned, breaking the tension between the two. Nishiki played it cool and pushed up his glasses before turning away.

“I forgot to mention to you, Kaneki, that I am a second year in Pharmaceutics Department.” Miyuki added as she let herself comfortable to her seat. Kaneki warily nodded his head to her and slowly stand up straight as he stared at Nishiki’s camouflage.

“Nagachika try looking on the shelves. It should be inside a green case.” The older male ghoul addressed as Hide nodded his head. Nishiki turned to Kaneki asking him to look upon the drawers, it is more effective to look for something they couldn’t find in this room. Nishiki soon sighed and glanced at the black-haired ghoul who was watching them on the couch. “Are you even going to help?”

He was barking as she made a face to him before standing up to her seat, “No I won’t. You were supposed to finish the materials, but instead, you brought some girl and make out here. How disgusting.” She went with the flow and saunter her way towards the desk where Nishiki’s laptop is located. She sat on the swivel chair with legs propped up to an Indian sit and started typing away.

She heard him grumbled and heard shuffling behind her. He started to look for the CD once more. She started typing the data, humming to herself her eyes are focused towards the screen. “senpai,” Hide called for her attention after a few minutes. She paused and turned her chair to face him with a questionable look on her face. “Did you draw this? Who is she?” He inquired as he waves her sketchbook. Miyuki pushed up her glasses and leaned on the chair.

“That?” She repeats and propped her chin on her hand, acted that she is thinking is the person she drew. “That’s Cheshire from what I remember her name was.” She says and glances at the three. She watches Kaneki and Nishiki pause from their search and looked to her direction. There was a glint of curiosity in their eyes that made her smile inwardly.

“Cheshire, you say?” Kaneki repeated, he looked puzzled as he peered over the sketchbook. It was a sketch of a female teenager with long white hair, her eyes weren’t visible as it was covered by her bangs but she had an eerie smile resting on her lips. The teenager was covered with blood as she had something on her left hand, a small slab.

“Yes, that’s what she was called by the people who had seen her. From what I have read in the articles on the internet, says that she is an insane SS-rate ghoul whose been on killing spree years ago, but later was captured by a ghoul investigator known as Shinohara Yukinori, who had a big break for catching her… That’s all I could say.” She stated and shrugged her shoulders. Kaneki nodded his head as Hide stared at the sketchpad intently before glancing at the black-haired ghoul, who seem to catch his calculated look, before shaking his head.

“Some say that, Cheshire escaped the Cochlea almost…” she started counting on her fingers, “four years ago. She left the place by killing all of the facilitators who tried to stop her. Then she was no longer seen after that.” Then she lets out a chuckle to ease the tension she can sense on the room once more. “Four eyes, you probably left it at home. The last I remember you brought it home with you.”

Nishiki nodded his and turned to Hide, asking him if he could accompany him back to his home.  Miyuki turned her attention back to the screen and finishing the last touches on the materials and saved it. She stretched her limbs as someone tapped her shoulder, “You coming with us?” Nishiki questioned as he looked down to her but Miyuki shakes her head.

“I still need to drop by to the store to grab some art materials. But, I’ll see you guys next week.” She reasoned and grinned innocently at the strawberry blonde. He ruffled her hair, messing up her glasses as she slapped his hand away in irritation. They bid their goodbyes to Miyuki and left the room, they heard Miyuki said—

“Go break a leg!”

* * *

 

(1) Cheshire

(2) Black Rabbit


	3. Chapter 3

**ACT TWO: _existence_**

* * *

The white-haired ghoul stretched her limbs and jumped repeatedly, before she stared down at the fight she saw in the underpass. She received a message that someone needs her assistance and when she reached her destination. She saw a strawberry blonde ghoul play with him, kicking him around the lot. From what she can hear and observe, there was something weird between the human lying down and the black-haired ghoul looked as if he was suffering from hunger, but why would he let himself starve? She didn’t pay attention to the human, who looked unconscious. There are a lot of humans in the wards, he could never loose some meat. She watches the scene unravel as the taller ghoul was pierced mercilessly by a familiar set of kagune and fly near to where she is standing. The two of them catch each other’s eyes before he passed out from his taken damage. She looked down at the ghoul down below who was finally taken over by his hunger and about to eat the human he tried protecting.

She was about to hopped down when another ghoul jumped below to face the black-haired ghoul. She recognized the ghoul’s scent as Touka Kirishima, her old partner’s older sister. She smiled merrily at the aid of the older sister to a colleague. Like what Ayato told her, she really is a soft-hearted despite of being brash and foul-mouthed like him. She finally hopped down to join the party as she had the grin resting on her pale lips. She had notice that the black-haired ghoul is actually a half. “How wonderful to see a half-ghoul like you. It’s just too bad you cannot remember me once you gain your sanity.” She addressed on the near-insane ghoul in front of her.

“Took you long enough.” Touka had a small smile on her lips as she saw that she arrived as well. The black-haired girl still had her fighting stance as if from any moment the ghoul in their front will suddenly charge to them for interrupting his supposed meal. The white-haired girl sticks out her tongue and blows raspberry to the ukaku-user ghoul.

“I’ve been waiting from the railings, Rabbit. You were just late like the usual.” She chided and immediately dodged when a claw tried pierce on her chest. She activated her own claws and pierced her kagune against the thick foundation of the underpass, standing vertically on the wall. “How feisty you are.”

“Stop playing around, Cheshire.” Touka yelled to the ghoul as she used attack Kaneki with her crystalized-like bullets from her kagune. Kaneki easily dodge her attacks and move like a mad man, something Cheshire can easily predict the attacks. He used his claws to catch Touka by her leg and throw her against the pavement. She wondered if Ayato could see this would he laugh? She used the wall as her spring and hover in the air, releasing 2 more kagunes and maneuver it to an offensive form and attack the black-haired ghoul to his shoulder and torso. He gasped at the sudden contact but he also used the chance of the small distance to attack her too. He used one of his kagune to pierce her directly in the stomach as she coughed out blood. Cheshire kicked him in the face and spring to remove the kagune on her stomach. She landed meters away from him, holding her stomach in attempt to avoid the blood from leaving her body.

Cheshire grinned as she remembered a familiar pain like this when she was younger. The things she had experience made her a high-tolerant of pain. This is the third time that someone managed to damage her during a fight. It made her excited but, the instructions given was to make him pass out. She watches Touka continue to attack him countlessly until the ukaku user huffed air for reaching her limit in endurance. “Rabbit! I think I know a solution to make him pass out!” She called for her attention. The black-haired girl glanced at her direction before dodging the male’s claws and jumped backwards to the white-haired ghoul’s position.

“What is it?” Touka questioned as the white-haired ghoul leaned to her ears and whispered the plan she thought. The white-haired ghoul had a mischievous grin on her face as she watched Touka’s face whistled to a beet red. Touka suddenly slapped her arm harshly, “As if I’ll do that! You do it, you pervert!”

Cheshire chuckled at her priceless reaction and pushed Touka away as a claw went through the center of the two ghouls. She glanced at the black-haired ghoul who was biting his finger with a small amount of drool leaving his lips. She raised a brow and glanced to Touka who was looking at the male with disgust. “Ah, I wouldn’t want to waste my precious lips to them. He wouldn’t like that.” She mentioned playfully as she can imagine him, throwing a tantrum and chuckled at the thought.

Touka smirked to her direction as she knew who Cheshire was referring to, she stands up straight as she can feel her body is killing her form the pain she suffered. Touka soon lets out a huff and placed a hand on her waist and offered to do the honors to her, “Try to knock him out then.”

Cheshire cracked her knuckles and grinned, “with pleasure.” She obliges as she suddenly sprints towards the male and throwed one of her strongest punch right through the gut. The male coughed some saliva and went limp. He slumped to her shoulder and have his breath steadily as his kagune disappeared, from her back she heard Touka lets out a scoff. “Well that went well.” Cheshire retorts at the approaching female.

Touka punched her shoulder that made Cheshire glance to her, “You ass! You could have just done it right from the start.” Touka snarled at her.

“That would be boring if I did it from the start.” Cheshire grinned at the female and pushed the sleeping male to her. She heard Touka yelled in complaint, she waved her hands dismissively at the female and saunter her way towards the unconscious human lying down. She picked him up and cradle him to her arms. The male seemed to be comfortable to his position that made her raise her eyebrows.

_Was he awake this whole time?_

Cheshire smirked at the thought, and shakes her head mentally. When she turned around, she saw Touka standing with the male on her back. Touka still had a scowl on her lips as she pointed the white-haired ghoul. “Aren’t you going to change your eyes? You might catch unwanted attention.”

Cheshire shrugged her shoulders and hopped high to reach the railings she stood before. “That’s why we are not returning to Anteiku the normal way.”

 

Miyuki rolled her eyes as she heard another hiss from Touka’s lips as she kept on moving as the older girl tries to disinfect her wounds from her fight with Kaneki. From what she heard to Touka’s narration, Nishiki cornered their kouhais to an underpass and assaulted them, leading Hideyoshi with severe injuries. However, Kaneki lost control of his self and almost killed Nishiki and Hideyoshi in the process. If she and the other ghoul weren’t she might never see her precious kouhai again. She patched up the last of Touka’s wound and pat on her cheek, “There all good.”

“Thanks, Miyuki.” Touka said quietly as Miyuki returned the items she used inside the kit and throwed the cottons with blood on the bin. Miyuki gave her a cup of coffee and told her to drink it. Touka watch the black-haired ghoul as she stared at her bandaged stomach all the way up to her chest. “How are your injuries?” She asked.

“They are getting better. I can feel the wounds closing up.” Miyuki replied as she grabbed her black shirt and put them on as Touka had a glimpse on the blue cross-stitches that littered her back. Miyuki looked back to Touka as she holds the knob, “I’ll be checking on Hideyoshi before I return to work. Please do rest until you can work again.” She advised before leaving the room.

“Weren’t I suppose to be the one telling you that?” She heard Touka yelled from the other side of the door as Miyuki only laughed in reply as she made her way to the end room of the hallway where Hideyoshi was resting. She opened the door as she found his sleeping form on the bed, he had a bandage wrapped around his head. It must have been hard, she knew that Hide is dangerous, he’s inquisitive than most human she can encounter with. It made her curious about his identity, and she knew that staying close to him might be a problem sooner or later.

• • •

“Are you sure you are fine now?” Miyuki inquires at Hideyoshi after he reappeared in the shop a week later. Hide nodded his head merrily to her with a grin resting on his lips. “That’s great then. Next time you need to be careful. Touka told me that Nishiki had his worse during the accident but nonetheless the three of you are recovering.”

Miyuki haven’t heard anything from Nishiki these past few days, neither from Kimi too. She decided that it would be best to give him one of the packages as it’ll be hard for him to heal that quickly after hearing how bad his injuries were. “It was a good thing Miyuki-senpai didn’t come with us. You would have suffered the same thing.” Hide countered as he rested his chin on his knuckles. “Where’s Kaneki by the way?

“Oh, he’s with the manager at the moment,” she heard the back door from the counter and made her head turn towards the direction. “Oh, speaking of the devil.” She mused, hugging the tray against her chest. Hide beamed up with a grin as he greeted Kaneki. Miyuki watched them with amusement as Kaneki looked skeptical from Hideyoshi’s sudden visit.

“Ah, Miyuki-senpai. Could you make it for me?” Hide asked when he ordered a cappuccino in favor of kaneki because he was bothering the older ghoul. Miyuki noticed his cheeks were dusted, she disregarded and smiled to him and nodded her head, “Alright. I’ll be back in a few.” 

She returned behind the counter, working on the cappuccino and kept her ears on their conversation. Miyuki grinned at Touka’s direction after and handed the cup to the younger ghoul. Touka was about to protest but her grin reverted to a sinister one, leaving Touka no choice but to comply. She watched them interact before they went back to the counter where she was. There was a small tension in the air when Touka warned the half-ghoul about their secret. Even if Kaneki was sure that Hide wouldn’t find out. Miyuki wasn’t convinced. As far as she observed him, among his kind, Hideyoshi Nagachika is a superior when it comes to intellect. His past is still unknown or unheard of far this day. She wondered where he got his intuitive motions and interest towards ghouls.

Her eyes wandered towards the blond and met his own gaze. Miyuki smiled nonetheless as she got a thumbs up from Hideyoshi. She glanced at Touka who just warn Kaneki that she’ll kill his best friend if he ever knew. Kaneki glanced at the older ghoul if she were to decide too but to his dismay, Miyuki nodded her head as sign that she agrees with Touka’s stand. As far as she can be concerned, Hideyoshi Nagachika is indeed a dangerous human, she can never know if he actually had a connection with the CCG.

After a while, the café’s working hours has come to an end. Miyuki and Touka went upstairs to change in their comfortable clothes, waiting for the manager to turn up inside with Kaneki for another lesson living as a ghoul. It was hilarious and amusing to see how Kaneki gave detailed description of eating human food. She couldn’t help but snicker as she watches him nodded his head, understanding the technique that Yoshimura gave him.

“Why don’t show him to do it, Miyuki?” The manager asked, turning to the black-haired ghoul. Miyuki’s eyes widened and politely declined him, as she doesn’t want to eat a horse crap. When the manager returned his attention to Kaneki, she snickered mentally, realizing that she must’ve gotten the word from Nishiki.

• • •

“Ah! Hello Mrs. Fueguchi! Hinami!” Miyuki greeted the newly arrived guests, leaning from the counter with a grin. The mother and daughter smiled to her, Hinami waved her hand shyly to the older ghoul’s direction. Touka appeared from the corner greeting the two with a smile, directing them to the second floor where the manager is waiting for them.

“They are ghouls?” Kaneki questioned, eyeing at the direction where the mother and daughter has disappeared too. The two female ghouls replied a yes in unison, going back to their post. Miyuki started wiping the mugs as Touka placed the decorated cake in the fridge.

“They are here for the package.” Miyuki replied, placing the mug on one of the racks. Kaneki continued to question, trying to satisfy his curiosity towards the two. “They can’t hunt for their selves.” She added as she saw his questioning look. Touka, who had enough of his “meowing”, glared and ordered him to shut up, before walking away from the two.

Miyuki chuckled at Touka’s restlessness. “Don’t mind Touka. She’s always been like that on newbies.” She waved her hand dismissively to Kaneki, who looked taken aback and guilty for prying. Kaneki looks like he didn’t have enough and wanted to ask a few more questions.

“You know you can ask a question. It’s not like Touka will round up from the corner and attack you.” Miyuki chuckled when Kaneki flinched and a blush appeared on his cheeks. The black-haired male scratched his cheeks. He looked skeptical and took a deep breath before starting.

“I remembered some of the parts before I lost my consciousness. I saw Touka talking with someone,” Kaneki paused, glancing at the calm female in front of him, “I might have saw the ghoul you draw on your sketchpad.” He mentioned carefully.

Miyuki froze before blinking several times as if she misheard him. There’s no way that he could remember. Miyuki unexpectedly snickered, leaving the cloth and the other mugs on the counter. Kaneki looked confused as he watches the older ghoul continue to snicker. “Why are you laughing?” He inquires, furrowing his brows.

“Cheshire is my figment of imagination, Kaneki. I made her up.” Miyuki barely contained her laughs as Kaneki’s expression morphed into disbelief.

Kaneki stagger to utter a word, unable to express his opinion. That cannot be right, his memory serves him clear. There was no way that Cheshire has been a figment of his imagination. He can still feel the ghosting pain on his stomach as Cheshire was the one who knocked him out. He remained silent for a while as Miyuki had thought that he was finished prying. “Then, how did you manage to have a hole on your stomach?”

Miyuki froze from her position as she slowly turned her head to Kaneki. Her smile slowly disappeared and formed a thin line. “Tell me, Miyuki-senpai. Are you Cheshire?”

 


	4. marionette and her puppeteer

“Nishino!”

Kimi Nishino flinched visibly flinched when her name is suddenly called by someone. The short-brown haired girl turned around to see her boyfriend’s classmate-slash-best friend panting with her hands on her knees as she catches her breath from running. Miyuki is wearing a black polo with her sleeves rolled to her elbow. It has been a while since she had seen this particular black-haired student. She had mostly seen her with Nishiki inside the AO room every after class. At first, she had been suspicious about her appearance on the second term of their first year. Kimi trusts her boyfriend even if he acts like an ass to other people sometimes and seeing them all buddy-buddy together at first made her gut sink.

“Can I walk with you?” Miyuki asked nicely that she cannot just reject her. Kimi nodded her head to the black-haired Pharmaceutical student and they walked side by side as they exited the campus. Nishiki noticed the peculiarity of Kimi’s behavior whenever Miyuki is around them but the black-haired girl seems oblivious at her actions. When Nishiki had asked her about it and got the truth out of her, she told him that she is suspicious of her intentions to him.

Kimi can clearly remember how Nishiki snickered at her rants and pecked on her lips before saying that she shouldn’t be suspicious of that “four eyes”. He said that Miyuki isn’t his type and he knows that she had been hung up on her childhood friend. He was right at the times she observed Miyuki, she had been occasionally glancing at her black bookmark and when she inspected her sketchpad, she saw a portrait of a child with messy blue locks, blue eyes and a menacing look. She had thought about it, Miyuki never looked at her with distaste—she looks more amused and from what she heard from Nishiki, Miyuki actually supports their relationship for reason, Nishiki can’t tell her.

“How is Nishiki’s doing?” Miyuki questioned that made her snap out of her thoughts and glanced at her. The black-haired girl is looking straight at the road with a bored expression on her face. Kimi did not know how to answer this question as of today. It had only been a few days since she found out that Nishiki is a ghoul and she doesn’t know who else knows it.

“Uhm… He’s fine?” She croaked and it didn’t sound too convincing at all. Kimi wanted hit herself repeatedly for messing it up the first time. She didn’t have the proper words to answer Hideyoshi’s question earlier when she handed him the tape. Miyuki didn’t look convinced either but she noted the black-haired girl’s action when she placed her thumb on her bottom lip and acted that she’s thinking something deep.

“Let me rephrase that thought,” Miyuki slowly said before standing straight and stopped walking, “Is Nishiki having a hard time to heal his wounds?” Kimi felt hear face drained in color as Miyuki slowly looked at her in the eyes.

“H-how d-did you know about h-his wounds?” Kimi stuttered her reply and slowly backed away from Miyuki. The black-haired girl throwed her a look before visibly sighed at the brown-haired girl’s reaction. Ah, yes. Kimi had been frantic because of the sudden knowledge of truth about her boyfriend being a ghoul and now, his classmate, Miyuki Himura.

“Just calm down, Nishino and don’t get any ludicrous thoughts like the last time.” Miyuki combed her hair to the back of her head. Kimi can see the irritation on her pale features as she suddenly blushed when Miyuki knew about her suspicions about her and Nishiki’s non-existent love relationship.

Kimi looked down at her feet and found herself calming down as she reply, “He’s been having a hard time. I know that he hadn’t been satisfied with the flesh I gave him the other day.” She unconsciously placed a hand on her scarred shoulder. The black-haired ghoul seemed to understand what she meant and nodded her head. Kimi looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her brown orbs met her gold ones, they seem to hold a sense of determination as they stared at her,

“I am going to help you. Will you bring me to him?”

  * • •



When the ladies have reached his apartment, Kimi unlocked the door using her spare key. The black-haired ghoul insisted on going first, just a precaution if Nishiki will be going funny. Kimi watched the black-haired ghoul remove her shoes and socks and her backpack, placing it on the floor as she closed the door behind her. The light coming from the door is removed leaving them wandering in darkness.

Miyuki stopped Kimi from reaching the switch near them and shakes her head. The black-haired girl decided to change her eyes and removed her glasses before turning to Kimi. It is the second time, Kimi had seen a ghoul’s eyes up close but it still scares her. The red irises had glowing from the darkness making it stand out yet creepy in a way. Kimi felt a square-rimmed spectacle is handed to her. “Please don’t let it brake and wait until I told you to so.”

Kimi nodded her head and she is not sure if Miyuki had seen her action but she heard her hummed in satisfaction. The black-haired ghoul moved forward, quietly walking down the hallway. Miyuki can see the empty cans loitering around the apartment. Miyuki pivoted her foot and made Kimi stand back when she suddenly heard footsteps in front of her. She used her left hand to deflect him but she felt her teeth gnashed her wrist at the contact. She gritted her teeth in irritation and maneuvered her bitten wrist and held him by the neck before using her ghoulish strength to throw him on the floor and created a den. Her actions made her wrist bleed as her skin is torn and it is on his mouth, gritting it. She heard Kimi gasped at the sudden noise and the black-haired girl knew that Kimi can’t see anything yet and felt her suddenly moved,

“Don’t try to come near us, Kimi. He needs to be knocked out first.” Miyuki halted the brown-haired girl’s actions and glanced at her in a short span of time. She heard Kimi muttered an okay to her before she turned her attention back to Nishiki who spit the skin away from him. Miyuki knew that Nishiki isn’t fond with cannibalism even if he is that hungry that made you tick for some reason, “You look like a piece of horse shit, four eyes. Rest.” She mentioned lowly before giving her strength on her left leg and stomped on his stomach. She felt him went limp and passed out on the floor.

Miyuki sighed in relief and later realized that she kicked him on his wound. She reached for the nearby switch and flicked it on. There they have witness his messy of an apartment, if it can be considered as one. Miyuki picked Nishiki and placed him over her shoulder like a sack of rice and walked further inside, putting him down on his futon. When she succeeds, Miyuki lie down on the floor with a loud sigh. Miyuki watched Kimi looked around the apartment and grabbed a kit before plopping in front of her.

“Give me your arm, Himura…” She ordered quietly. Miyuki sit up and crossed her legs to an Indian sit and extended her wounded arm.

“It can heal for a matter of days, Nishino. You really don’t have to,” Miyuki mentioned as she watches Kimi disinfect her wrist. Kimi is fascinated to see that Miyuki isn’t flinching at the contact with alcohol. The brown-haired girl looked up briefly and saw Miyuki staring at her wounded arm, seems to be in deep thought. Kimi wrapped the bandage on her wound and taped it, securing the wound and instructed her to change the bandage when she gets home.

Kimi finally handed her glasses and watched Miyuki’s eyes returned to her golden orbs and she wear her glasses and smiled at Kimi’s direction. Miyuki grabbed the package on her bag and opened it. She saw Kimi flinched at the scent that came from the bag and covered her nose nonetheless. Kimi watched Miyuki as she grabbed a handful of the body part and opened Nishiki’s mouth before putting it inside. They watch him sleep-eat the human flesh as he slowly regained color. When it is finished, Miyuki apologize to her and Kimi simply nodded her head in reply.

 They both stand up and look around, they are both bothered by the mess in his home and decided to clean his whole apartment. She handed Kimi the spare package on her bag first and instructed her to place it on his refrigerator. Miyuki is surprised when Kimi started asking about the nature of ghouls aside, they eat human flesh. The black-haired girl found herself amused as she told her the basic nature of their kind. Then there is this one question that made Miyuki caught off guard.

“If you had a chance to choose, do you want to born as a human or continue living as a ghoul?” Miyuki paused from mopping the floor while Kimi paused from wiping the dining table. The brown-haired girl heard her hum in thought before answering.

“I would still continue living as a ghoul,” She answered that made Kimi curious. “Living as a human seems nice… I get to eat varieties of sweets and flavors and lots of meat. But if I wasn’t a ghoul today. I wouldn’t able to meet my childhood friend.” Kimi looked at the small smile resting on her face, she looks so happy when she mentioned her childhood friend.

“By childhood friend, you mean the child you draw on your sketchbook? The one who had a messy blue hair and blue eyes?” Kimi wondered and covered her mouth after realizing what she had said. Miyuki turned to her by surprise, the black-haired girl didn’t know that Kimi inspected her sketches.

Miyuki snickered and let her be, some humans are indeed fascinating. That maybe one of the reasons why Nishiki loves Kimi so much. They suddenly heard a groan coming from the futon, Kimi is the first one to run by his side while Miyuki just watched. “Kimi? What happened?”

“You were in the brink of hunger feast. You are lucky I am here with Kimi or else you would have been crying by the time you realized you ate her.” Miyuki mentioned dryly that made Nishiki turned to her and saw her leaning on the handle of the mop.

“What happened to your arm?” He asked inquisitively, eying at your bandaged wrist. The black-haired girl took a glance on her wrist and then to Kimi before fixating her gaze on Nishiki before grinning.

“You jumped on me and chewed my wrist like a dog.” Miyuki told him before laughing. By the way she put it made Kimi snicker beside him. It made him flustered and throwed a pillow to her face and suddenly winced when his wound ached.

“Why the heck does my wound is pulsating?” He cursed under his breath. He heard Miyuki snapped her fingers and said,

“Oh yeah. I stomped you on the gut to make you pass out.”

Miyuki barely dodged the wooden box he throwed her way.

  * • •



Miyuki smiled at the cashier employees after she handed her purchased medical books and art materials inside a paper bag. She placed the paper bags inside her backpack as she pushed the door and left store, humming a small tune that only reached her ears. She had decided to do some re-stocking of her art materials and added on her list the books she needed for the rest of the semester, instead of tagging along with Touka and Kaneki to HySy Mask studio in the 4th ward. She knew that Touka wouldn’t mind at all but she is worried to Kaneki on handling the black-haired ghoul’s temper and what knots.

In terms of Kaneki—he had been to awkward when she is around, after the incident of him blurting out his suspicions on her identity as Cheshire. Miyuki knew that he will figure it out eventually, but having his statements being too brittle and all that, she can easily slip an alibi for her wound. She remembered him, being flustered, waving his hands dismissively in front of him, repeatedly saying that he didn’t mean to pry When she watched him act like that made her snicker, he looks cute when he is flustered. She remembered saying to him her alibi,

_“For once, I am not going to deny that I am a ghoul.  As for my wound, there are a lot of ghouls who meddles with cannibalism in order to get strong and its nasty business. I am sorry to burst your bubble but I am not the ghoul you are looking for.”_

Miyuki had spoken a lot of lies in her 18 years of existence and she knew that she is still counting them. She wasn’t the only one lying all her life, look at the ghouls who wanted to live peacefully. The ghouls have always been a liar, and she is one of the greatest liars in their history.

Miyuki looked around the foreign scenery around her. She had been wandering around the 14th ward where most local art and bookstores are located. It would be nice to move here, she can visit the local shops anytime but the 14th ward is where most ghouls hide their tails. However, this ward has been flocked by doves at every corner, concluding that this ward isn’t safe for her or any of the other ghouls living in here.

The sun is almost setting on the horizon, means that there will be doves rounding up the corner soon. Miyuki needs to go back in the train station soon to catch the last trip to the 20th ward. She walked down the sidewalk of an underpass, when suddenly a lump of a body was thrown at the wall a foot in front of her. She blinked, clearly taken aback by the action that happened and looked down at the person lying on the ground. He was beaten and battered badly and by the smell of the blood that entered her nostrils—he is a ghoul.

She glanced at the direction where the beaten ghoul came from and Miyuki saw a figure of man’s shadow at the other side of the road. The lights flickered that can easily frightened a human being and witnessing something like this but all these years, she is already accustomed with it. The man had his hands kept inside his pocket and judging by the mask, he is certainly a ghoul. She had easily concluded something in her mind, this ghoul might have been in debt with the other’s organization, which is a lot of pain in her part. The beaten ghoul groaned that caught her attention, she looked down to see him, reaching out to her.

“H-help…me,” he mentioned weakly. She stepped back a little and let the man plopped down on the street with no energy. “P-please…” Miyuki clicked her tongue and walked around him and continued as if she never saw anything.

The black-haired girl heard footsteps where the beaten ghoul is lying down and a lingering feeling that someone is watching her back. “I thought you going to help him for a second.” She heard him say. His voice is strained because of the mask covering his identity and here she with her identity exposed.

“You are quite cruel for a woman. Just like the person I knew a few years ago.” Miyuki heard him mention as she turned around to see the man looking at her direction while holding the battered ghoul by his neck, struggling. She squinted to see that the man is wearing an all-black outfit that complimented his blue messy hair that she can detail because of the lamp above their heads. She takes note of the details of his mask. His mask consists of red eyes and a sharp-toothed grin by the mouth, clearly to terrify any human who looks into it.

“I’d rather not meddle with your business. I don’t want my manager to get into trouble.” She hinted coyly as she adjusted her black-rimmed glasses and walked away from the scene. Miyuki is cautious by the masked man, a sinking feeling in her gut and she hoped that it is just a feeling and nothing else. She heard the masked man hum as followed by the ragged breaths of the assaulted ghoul and delirious pleading to her way but she ignored it.

“Shut up already!” she heard the masked ghoul complained and gripped his neck tightly until she heard a snap in the distance. The body went limp and unmoving in the man’s grip before letting go of his neck fell like a ragged doll.

Miyuki heard a trail of feet along with a lingering smell of death and blood following her behind, something she had around her years ago. She shakes her head to remove the nausea that has been building up on her stomach and calmed herself. “Why are you following me?”

She didn’t hear his reply and decided to turn around and is taken aback when his masked face is only inches away from her. She backed away from him but step forward nonetheless. “Why are you still here? I didn’t meddle on your work.” She questioned, feeling _their_ cold touch behind her nape. She visibly shivered at the contact as she hears his breath beneath the mask.

The cold feeling vanished when she was grabbed by the neck, her backpack lies on the pavement as her back contacted on the wall harshly. Her visions became unclear when her glasses suddenly fell but she was glad that she didn’t heard any crack and sighed in relief. His grip tightened against her neck as she struggled to catch more air, her feet is a foot away from the pavement itself. Miyuki hold his wrist by instinct and dig her nails against his skin in the process.

“Why are you doing this?” She choked out her words as she gritted her teeth. She can’t think straight as her oxygen won’t last that long. She can barely see the ghoul in front of her, who turned his head away from her as if he is hesitating to kill her.

“Eto told me to not leave any witnesses today,” he mentioned quietly and she heard him clicked his tongue. He tightened his hold on her neck watching her closed her one eye in the process. They told her to give in already and defend herself but her rational mind dictates her not to.

_You can’t risk being spotted, Miyuki! You can’t just give in._

Her nails dig deeper on his wrist and suddenly gave her a de javu feeling. _Ah. Shit._ They all cursed at the same time. Miyuki did her best to stop her mind from rewinding those ugly days she had in her childhood—the days that made her who she is and made her worse. Her focus is no longer rested at the ghoul holding her throat, her eyes looked at the road where her vision heightened and recognize the pale and white short-haired girl in the middle of the road. The child is no older than 12 and staring at her with those predatory orbs before grinning slowly. The child slowly lifted her left hand to her direction, asking her a quiet order to take her hand—to accept her, Cheshire, again.

Tears started to prick her eyes, conflicted with her inner selves. She heard her younger voice again, “ _Aren’t you going to accept us? You can be free once you do._ ” The voice of her younger self is small yet menacing and chilling to the bone. Miyuki can just accept her again and this will all end but, in her honesty, it is not that easy. If she were to accept Cheshire fully, all the efforts she did for the past few years—her inner peace will have to end and return to them—to Aogiri.

“Calm down.” She heard the ghoul’s muffled that made her snapped out of her thoughts for a short while. She can be sure that his voice is filled with melancholy. Miyuki can’t exactly see his expression but she can tell that he is frowning. There she realizes that he is no longer holding her by the throat but he firmly holds her shoulders. She is hyperventilating, she clenched her hands feeling the irregular heartbeat against her chest. Her gold colored eyes are already fixated back to the white-haired girl’s position and saw a tall and bulk figure behind her, making her anxious. The bulk man encased her old self in his arms that made her cry out loud.

“Look at me!” The ghoul demanded and used his hand to grab her chin and forced her to look at him directly. She still can’t see his eyes but she knew he is staring back to her. She felt her knees weaken as she slowly slid down and rested on the pavement as the ghoul followed her actions, kneeling in front of her. She held her breath when he closed the distance between them. She instinctively closed her eyes when the ghoul removed his mask and pecked on her forehead. A familiar warmth washed over her as the white-girl frown and vanished along with the man behind her.

The warmth has become stronger when she is encased between his arms and found herself embracing the ghoul back. She didn’t know how long they stayed in that position but she couldn’t care, his scent is distinct and familiar as if she had smelled it before. She can tell that he can say the same thing. She buried her face on his chest even more, muttering.

“ _Thank you, Ayato._ ”

 

* * *

 

Omake:

“Why are you still here? I didn’t meddle on your work.” She questioned, feeling _their_ cold touch behind her nape. She visibly shivered at the contact as she hears his breath beneath the mask.

The cold feeling vanished when she was grabbed by the neck, her backpack lies on the pavement as her back contacted on the wall harshly. Her visions became unclear when her glasses suddenly fell and she heard a loud crack against the pavement.

“Did you just break my glasses?” she asked with disbelief, even if the ghoul’s image is hazy. She tightened her grip against his wrist, digging her nails and heard him hiss loudly.

“No! I didn’t break your stupid glasses! I didn’t catch your glasses so the ground is at fault here.” He passed the blame on the pavement. She throwed him a ‘really-Ayato?’ look.

 


End file.
